The return was much like the going, excepting that there was not the necessity for haste, and with this difference of feeling. The rebel army had started North elated by Chancellorsville; it returned depressed by Gettysburg.
The Union Army had not been depressed by Chancellorsville (it never was by any defeat), but was more than pleased with Gettysburg.
The walk did not stop until the Army of the Potomac was again between the Rappahannock and the Rapidan.
July, August, and September having passed by, and October being well under way, Lee, having nothing to gain by remaining quiet, again put his army in motion, this time bound for the road that led to his Country's Capital, but not with patriotic intent.
By this time the Army of the Potomac had become well grounded in the ups and downs which lie between the Rapidan and the Potomac.
Foraging had become a thing of the past in this now agricultural and animal forsaken portion of our Land. In fact, at the time when anything was to be found here, it was not permitted to be taken. It was not until later on that the conclusion was arrived at that Union Armies were not organized and maintained to guard crops for rebel army use and the sustenance of a southern confederacy.
Thousands of Union Soldiers might lie in unknown graves, and tens of thousands might be sent home cripples for life, but not an ear on the stalk, or a grain in the crib, an animal on the hoof, or his parts in the smoke-house, must be taken by the Union Soldier, lest treason might not have abundance.
All that was left of what once had been, were the names of the places along the route—Rappahannock Station, Catlett, Bristoe, Manassas, Thoroughfare, Haymarket, Union Mills.
Lee's Last Move on Washington.